| Term | Definition |
| characterization | presentation of a character or characters on the stage or in writing, especially by imitating or describing actions, gestures, or speaches |
| major characters | almost always round or three dimensional characters. they have good and bad qualities. thier goals, ambitions and values change. a round character changes as a result of what happens to him or her a character who changes inside as a result of what happens to him is referred to in literature as a dynamic character. a dynamic character grows or progresses to a higher level of understanding in the course of the story |
| protagonist | the main character |
| antagonist | the character who works against the protagonist in the story |
| foil | a character who provides a contrast to the protagonist |
| minor characters | Almost always flat or two-dimensional characters. They are usually all good or all bad. Such characters lack depth. Flat characters are sometimes referred to as STATIC characters because they do not change in the course of the story. |
| point of view | the perspective from which a story is told |
| first person | the narrator is a character in the story who can reveal only personal thoughts and feelings and what he/she sees and told by other characters; he can't tell us thoughts of other characters |
| third-person objective | the narrator is an outsider who can report only what he or she sees and hears. this narrator can tell us what is happening, but he cant tell us the thoughts of the characters |
| third person limited | the narrator is an outsider who can see into the mind of one character |
| omniscient | the narrator is an all knowing outsider who cna enter the minds of more than one of the characters. |